Trob

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Trob is an island mentioned in The Colour of Magic whose sailors sometimes visit the Counterweight Continent. The beTrobi people are fairly simple and speak in metaphors. It is common knowledge of their language that first allows Rincewind and Twoflower to communicate.

Places in Trob:

Gods in Trob:

  • Alohura, Goddess of Lightning
  • The firegods of Awayawa

Annotation

With words like Awayawa, Orohai and Raruaruaha, beTrobi seems to be linguistically very similar to the South Sea Islands of Roundworld, also known as Polynesia. Polynesia may be described as a triangle with its corners at Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island. The other main island groups located within the Polynesian triangle are Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia.

Words from that region have the profusion of vowels and repetitions seen in beTrobi. Some of the forty-odd distinct languages have as few as 12 letters in their alphabets, leading to the need for repetition. Here are some genuine Polynesian placenames taken at random:

Bikenikaibuke, Matanatamberan, Paepaeoleia, Kapingamarangi, Kolombangara, Laupahoehoe, Panopompom... You get the idea.